The Zoologist — August, 1871. 2717 



last was quite common. The water here was totally unfit for 

 drinking. 



At Rocher de Sel the soil becomes more sandy, — a frost-like 

 whiteness coats the plain, — but after passing the salt mountains 

 (from which the caravanserai takes its name) the country assumes 

 a more Tell-like appearance, becoming fertile and woody. These 

 remarkable mountains are well worth a visit: seen at a little distance 

 they present a blue appearance, but it is not difficult to find large 

 pieces of salt of the purest while, and quite fit for the table : they 

 have the additional recommendation of being the home of the 

 kestrel, the raven, the neophron, the kite {Milvus ater f), and of 

 other birds : I counted thirteen or fourteen kestrels in the air at 

 one time, and observed that they took their insect-prey upon the 

 wing. After this the road mends ; lately-built houses, an orchard 

 of almond trees just coming into bloom, and other symptoms of 

 civilization are noted ; and, in process of time, our " voiture," if that 

 miserable contrivance for jolting passengers deserves the name, 

 passed the eighth halting-place and arrived at Laghouat. 



Laghouat, or El Aghouat, according as we prefix the French or 

 Arab article, is the last French outpost : rendered pretty by the 

 number of tall palms, it is, in fact, the first oasis in the Sahara, 

 while to the north stretch plains as far as Djelpha: rocky mountain- 

 ridges protect it from the wind, which frequently blows the sand in 

 overwhelming clouds. Nearly all the houses are white, flat-roofed, 

 and made of mud-bricks : the same materials partition off the Arab 

 gardens. The coach, or "courier," arrives about 5'30 p.m., just 

 when the last " red rays" of the setting sun are shedding " a golden 

 pathway" through the forest of stately palms: these matchless trees 

 encompass the town to the number of 20,000, and form a noble 

 belt of verdure, beneath which the vine, the fig, the pomegranate, 

 the olive, the peach, the apricot, interlace their foliage, mingling in 

 rank confusion. There is nothing picturesque about the Arabs at 

 Laghouat: the French have improved away the old stock, and the 

 present people are their degenerate descendants: not so the wild 

 tribes of the true desert, who still cherish a jealous hatred towards 

 that people against whom their hardy fathers swore eternal 

 enmity. 



The beautiful desert bullfinch [Carpodacus githagineus) was 

 common at Laghouat: its resorts are gravelly steppes and rocky 

 ground destitute of trees: its trumpet-note is one of the marvels of 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. VI. 2 R 



